Chicken has diarrhea

[rainey]

I just noticed that Chicken has some diarrhea in his cage, although it is mixed in with fresh normal poops as well. He changed cages yesterday because I finally tiled the wire floor of the FN and made it safe for him. He's 12 weeks old and has been on the same feed (Mazuri) since he started eating pellets. I haven't seen diarrhea from any of my 4 chins and they all eat it. Also all of the chins are in their own cage at the moment. My guess is that this is stress related? but I'm extra cautious because his sister died of rectal prolapse when she was 2 weeks old.
I cleaned out the cage thoroughly and gave him fresh water and food just in case. What else should I do? He doesn't seem lethargic. Here's a picture of his poo, if that helps at all.

 

[Christina Noraas]

I would take him to the vet ASAP, if it's not even formed into a pellet poop I'm thinking it's pretty severe. I wouldn't risk taking time. But others with more experience I'm sure will pop in. Good luck.

 

[tunes]

The picture you show looks more like poo that has been stepped on or crushed. It also looks very dry (though that just might be my monitor with the picture), which points more to constipation than diarrhea. Diarrhea is generally wet poops. If it's dry and crumbly, that could be the reason his sister died. Prolapse tends to happen more with constipation than diarrhea because they are straining to poop.

Pull all pellets, give nothing but fresh hay. Give a probiotic, either acidophilus or bene-bac. It very well may be stress related and you need to get his gut back in working order. The probiotic will go a long way to helping with that.

If this is true diarrhea, as in wet and squishy, you can also give activated charcoal on something. I usually dampen a bite sized, nonsugared shredded wheat and roll it in the activated charcoal. Yes, it looks disgusting, but they love it. Weird critters. If it was mucosy or slimy, that would need tested ASAP.

You said there are normal poops mixed in. What are they like? Are they small and hard? Are they normal sized and crumbly?

 

[rainey]

It must have been a false alarm (squished food/poop from the waterbottle dripping), because his poop has been completely normal since then. I don't believe it's dry, although my newest chin STILL has smallish dry poop which I was hoping was just because of him being stressed/new environment/etc. I think he may just be adjusting to the food change from Fiesta, as he isn't eating much. I have been giving acidophilus sprinkled over his food, and have been weighing him to keep track of any changes.

For future reference, where can I get activated charcoal? I always confuse which products I should have on hand for constipation and which for diarrhea.

 

[menagerie]

For future reference, where can I get activated charcoal? I always confuse which products I should have on hand for constipation and which for diarrhea.

I buy mine in capsule form at the health food store. Just open up a capsule and you're ready to go.

 

[rainey]

thanks I'll look for it in capsule form then. So now I found squished poo in Ham's cage. This is a disaster. They are all seemingly going on and off having regular and weird poo. Should I try switching from Mazuri? I did stop the pellets for a few days but Ham wasn't eating ANYTHING because he will barely eat either of the two types of hay I provide. I'm going to order hay cubes I guess but I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. Here's a quick recap of what's going on since I feel like I've left out some information

I purchased Ham about 2 weeks ago from someone who didn't provide many chew toys, minimal hay, and fed Fiesta. He is quarantined and is eating very little. He has had small dry poop since I brought him home, and just a few minutes ago I discovered smushed poo in his cage. I've been giving him a probiotic and I've stopped with all treats.

In another room in 3 separate cages I have Snoops, Dre, and their now 12week old baby, Chicken. Snoops has somewhat inconsistent poop, some days its very small, some days its normal; he suffered a heat stroke over the summer and is still recovering from that. Chicken has small poop but he's younger so I suppose it wouldn't be the same size. Dre has normal poop. I'm overwhelmed because I know that poop is one of the main ways to tell if a chin is sick and I know how fragile they are. I'm weighing them often but I think my scale may be whack. Am I just over-anxious at this point?